It's been a nice regular week. We grocery swapped on Monday and it was the first day of swim team for all the girls. So now we have someone at swim team Mon-Fri from 4:15-6. But after the first day, I only stay for the first hour (Candy's time and Brooke's time) and then we send either Dan or I back at 6 to get Megan. We had family night about Alma the younger. Candy taught it and the kids had fun acting it out.
I watched a friend's kids Tuesday morning while Candy was at joy school. Jack and the little boy that was over are about 6 months apart in age and they had a lot of fun. I already told you about the missionaries that night. We had the elders for dinner on Tuesday and they talked about helping a lady with her groceries. She initially told them she didn't need help, but she warmed up and let them help her carry her very big grocery load up to her 2nd floor apartment. She had been very standoffish when they first approached her, but by the time they finished helping her she was full of gratitude and kindness. Maybe the next time she is approached by missionaries, she'll be kind from the start--who knows where that may lead? The elders shared that story with us as their lesson and shared the lesson of Ammon serving the king. The kids love that story. It was so fun to have the missionaries here. One of our elders grew up on a farm in South Dakota and doesn't know how to swim. Our kids were flabbergasted by that. I told him if he comes back after his mission that I'd teach him :)
Wednesday we had playgroup. After 2 rainy days, Wednesday cleared up and was nice, so we headed to a park. I watched Ashley's kids from 8-12 that day so she could volunteer at the school. She kept them while I ran a quick errand from 12-1. Megan had A-days that night. I'm glad we have lots of friends to carpool with--it makes busy times easier since we needed kids at the pool at the same time as A-days.
Thursday Jack went to his little playschool while Candy was at joy school. I got some sewing in and Emily was a good little newborn and napped. I hemmed some pants for a friend, mended 2 pairs of pants for Dan, and finished 2 more pillowcases for Dad and Sally. We had some more coordinating that night since Megan had her last soccer practice. She went to an earlier swim practice and Dan picked her up from there to run her to soccer while I took everyone else home for dinner and bed. She got her trophy at practice that night and was asking when she could do soccer again. She loved it.
Friday was a more open day. I watched my nephew Luke while Ali was at the doctor. Carrie came to hang out too. Carrie and I took Luke, Candy, Jack, and Emily to meet up with Ali at Target and do a little shopping. Then home to get pizzas ready for babysit night before picking up the big girls. We hosted babysit night (13 kids these days!) and it went really well--since 6 of the kids are on swim team now, bedtime was not a fight--they were exhausted!
Saturday was supposed to start with Megan's last soccer game. But a pretty awesome and windy thunderstorm blew through right at the same time and saturated the field enough that they cancelled all the games that day. We won't have a make up, so that was her season! Megan had a birthday party at 2 and then we picked her up and all of us went to cousin Whitney's 6th birthday part from 4-6. There were 18 kids there not counting Emily and it was busy! But the kids had fun, they played some inside games and then headed into the backyard to splash and play in the sprinkler and do the slip-n-slide--the one that you used way back when that Mom gave to me when we moved into our house. It is getting pretty worn out! But it worked for the party. It might have been the last hurrah of that toy.
Jack kept telling us to roll up the windows. "I Fweezing!" he was yelling :). After the party 4/30
It's been a busy Sunday. I had just finished feeding Emily when the phone rang about 4 am. It was Ali--her water had broken and they were heading to the hospital! So I grabbed Emily and drove over to be there with her kids. The kids woke up around 6:30 and we headed back to my house for breakfast. So we had 8 kids to get ready for church. Dan missed some meetings to be able to help with driving them there and during sacrament meeting. I was thankful! They did pretty well for sacrament meeting--except when I was out feeding Emily and the little boys were wild! Poor Dan.
I taught about Alma and Amulek today when the believers are stoned and their wives and children are cast into the fire. Pretty heavy stuff for 8 year olds. I really felt the spirit during the lesson as we talked about why the Lord lets bad things happen to people who are choosing the right. We talked about how this life is a tiny piece of eternity and how this life isn't fair. Bad things happen, really hard things happen, even when you are doing everything right. But that because of the gospel, we know that this life is not the end. And in the end, when you have faith in Jesus Christ, everything will be made right. One girl in my class has a sister with spina bifida--it's not fair that she has those challenges with her body--but in the eternities--her body will be perfect. It's not fair that 5 years ago we had to say goodbye to Mom and Sally had to say goodbye to Mike. But in the eternities, this separation will seem short and we'll be with them again. We talked about the courage of Alma and Amulek and the people who believed their words--they stood for the right even when it was very, very hard--way harder than any of us will have it (at least I hope we won't be stoned or burned alive!). I hope the kids felt the spirit too.
After church we did
our best to keep the kids from driving us and each other crazy and had
dinner at a friend's house in the ward--we told them we'd have 3 extra
kids with us and they just said the more the merrier (we have great
friends). I made Texas sheetcake, yum yum. Ali's baby took his sweet
time but he was born safe and sound just before 6 pm! Congrats to
them. They named him Joseph. He's exactly 8 weeks younger than Emily.
We put all the kids to bed here and my brother in law came to take them
to sleep the rest of the night at home just a minute ago (9:40 pm or
so).
All the kids saying "we love you" to Ali in the hospital. this afternoon, 5/1
April 27/28 marked 10 years since my BYU graduation!
On the porch at Grandfather and Mama Lainey's house
Outside the Marriott center.
Also, Brooke came running in to tell us she thought she saw a snake in the yard! This was today, 5/1. It was about 3 feet long! GAH! Jamie says it's a Texas rat snake and it's not venemous. It quickly slithered under the fence to the wooded area behind us. I hope it stays there!
Emily when I started typing this. The tail end of a smile. She's getting better at them and has been giving them out all week!
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